“Takin’ it to the Streets” gets a sleaze rock makeover
In a union as unexpected as a teapot on a Marshall stack, classic rock royalty and Sunset Strip legends have come together for a high-seas sonic adventure. Ozzy Osbourne’s Bob Daisley, Uriah Heep’s Mick Box, and the Bulletboys team for a metal remake of the Doobie Brothers’ “Takin’ it to the Streets” via Cleopatra Records.
The title track to the Doobies’ sixth album in 1976, “Takin’ It To The Streets” was both composed and sung by the band’s newly-acquired frontman Michael McDonald, and swiftly became one of their biggest hits yet, a No. 13 Billboard smash. Years later, that same magazine elected it the Doobie Brothers’ third greatest song, and a yacht rock staple before the term was coined.
The BulletBoys bring their characteristic Sunset Strip swagger and vocal bravado to the mix, crafting a version that glides as smoothly as a speedboat in Monaco but hits like a bottle of Jack at soundcheck. And with Daisley and Box on the deck alongside them, you know that soundcheck is gonna be loud.
Produced in Los Angeles with a mix of analogue warmth and digital bite, this yacht metal version of “Takin’ It to the Streets” is more than a cover—it’s a seafaring reinvention, custom-built for late-night drives, dive-bar jukeboxes, and yes, possibly the top deck of a very dubious cruise liner.
The track is available on all streaming platforms, while Yacht Metal itself – a limited-edition vinyl compilation positively overflowing with like-minded reinventions – is sailing closer every day.
